


The Middle Way

by reginahalliwell



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gray Jedi, Introspection, Present Tense, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, The Force Ships It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22089355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reginahalliwell/pseuds/reginahalliwell
Summary: Spoilers for Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.Short one-shot set in TROS following the events on Kef Bir. Rey and Ben find a middle way, together.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 5
Kudos: 49





	The Middle Way

Rey’s fingers stretch out over the wound she made with his lightsaber, the broken kyber crystal’s beam as deadly in her own hands as in his. She closes her eyes, feeling out for the Force, and directs it to heal the flesh beneath her hand. The wound self-cauterized as the lightsaber entered his abdomen, but he would still die from it if she didn’t heal him. Force healing was still a skill she had yet to master, but she is adept enough with it now to help him.

Removing her hand from his wet, shaking body, Rey assesses the wound. The skin is now healed over and clean, the only reminder of her attack the hole in his black doublet, the fibers burnt to a crisp despite being soaked through.

He looks healed, at least physically. But the knowledge of Leia’s death hangs heavy over them both. Rey knows it’s the only reason she was able to stab him so cleanly, even though her skills have improved over the last few times they’ve fought. But it was the General’s death that distracted him for that crucial moment as she struck, allowed his own saber to strike its master.

The anger within Rey departs with the dimming of Leia’s Force signature. All at once, her rage becomes grief, her vitriol turns to sympathy, her attack gives way to succor.

She can’t tell if he’s crying or if the waves have just drenched his face. He's shaking gently, like he's fragile and in the process of falling apart. The trembling is as much because of his grief as his freezing sodden clothing or his wound, she suspects. The words that fall out of Rey's mouth then are unbidden, something she hasn’t acknowledged aloud to anyone else, let alone herself. “I wanted to take your hand,” she says, conciliatory. “Ben’s hand.”

He glances up at her, the look in his eyes one of conflict and sadness. The loss of his mother seems to be profoundly affecting him, and Rey understands why. As Leia used the last of her life force to call out to her son, Rey felt a great disturbance in the Force, and in the next moment when the general’s spirit leaves this world, an even greater one. The loss is palpable, like all the joy in Rey’s heart has just vanished without a trace.

It spurs her to action. She healed him, yes, but that wasn’t enough. Their connection means she doesn’t truly want him to die. They are too bonded now, and the pain she feels at Leia’s death isn’t only the Force, but her bond with him. His pain is her pain.

Instead of following her initial impulse to leave him there and flee to Ahch-To, Rey sits down beside him. The crashing waves around them provide a background noise to break the silence between them, the bond they share redolent with quiet grief. She thinks he might be in shock, feeling the pain of his mother’s death more even than the now-healed saber wound.

Her shoulder nudges his, their bodies touching just enough that through their Force bond and their physical connection, she can offer him some sense of companionship. Deep down, she knows he is right about the two of them. They might consider themselves enemies one day and allies the next, but either way they are two sides of the same coin. They are equals. A dyad in the force. Two souls in one. No more Light or Dark, Jedi or Sith. Instead, they are two Force-users no longer beholden to any order.

Rey sends comfort down the bond, knowing the pain he must be feeling. He killed his own father, and now he could never redeem himself to his mother. Only in the Force might he reunite with her, but his father would be lost to him forever, save from his memories.

She sees motion in her peripheral vision as she sits quietly, watching the dark waves crash against the metal jetty they’re sitting on. He’s removing his black leather gloves, the ones he always wears. He’s worn them almost every time she’s seen him, in battle and across their Force bond.

When he turns his palm upward this time, offering his ungloved hand to her, Rey cannot help but take it. Her fingers intertwine with his, her thumb grazing the back of his hand to offer some sort of comfort.

“Ben?” Rey asks, her voice beckoning his gaze to meet hers. She looks on at him in disbelief, noting the pain and sadness she sees in his eyes, but also the acceptance. Somehow, Leia’s final act brought her son back to her, back to himself.

With the death of Leia Organa, so died Kylo Ren.

What remains is Ben Solo, Rey thinks, seeing the vulnerability blossoming from him. He is not the arrogant Supreme Leader, not the erstwhile Sith lord, not the aspiring Vader successor. Instead, he is just Ben. A Force-user, a conflicted young man, an equal.

She couldn’t explain their bond to anyone else, couldn’t rationalize it to anyone who asked. How every bit of anger within her could simply flow away like the sands taken out with receding waves, how Kylo Ren’s actions can be forgiven in an instant when Ben Solo comes back to himself. How their Force bond creates an intimacy beyond friendship, beyond romantic love, beyond desire. How she could go from trying to kill him in one stroke to comforting and healing in the next.

Perhaps she will still go to Ahch-To after all, but this time she won’t go alone. She may be a Palpatine, and he a Skywalker, but neither one of them will be constrained by their legacies anymore. They will find a middle way, together.

When Ben squeezes her hand in assurance of what Rey senses (and must be projecting down the bond they share), she squeezes back.

She doesn’t know what place, if any, Ben Solo might have in this new world. But wherever that place might be, Rey knows she will be by his side. 


End file.
